The

Extra

Division Seven

Newsle er

Superintendent Gerry Hopkins MMR

Treasurer Sam Mangion MMR

Hospitality Manager John Dever

Editor David O’Hearn

Presenta on Manager Paul Morrant MMR

Welcome to this edi on of The Extra.

We are now into our second year of

The Extra and may there be many

more years of this e-zine to come.

Like all editors, I am always seeking

contribu ons for The Extra so please pass contribu-

ons to me at mee ngs or email them to me at:

dohearn@internode.on.net

All contribu ons will be gratefully accepted.

-by David O’Hearn

Volume2,Issue119November2013

FromtheEditor...

NovemberMeeting

NextFewMeetingsOur next few mee ngs for 2013 and early 2014 will be:

December Mee�ng—The December mee ng will be the

Christmas Party on 14 December 2013 from 12 noon un-

l 3:00 pm at the Berowra Waters Waterview Restau-

rant, 199 Bay Road, Berowra Waters (02)9456 2633.

Tickets are $55 per person and they are available for pur-

chase at our November mee ng from Gerry or Lauris

Hopkins or whoever is manning the entrance table.

Hurry to buy your Christmas Party �ckets as the cut-off

date for �cket sales is 12 November 2013.

January Mee�ng—On 11 January 2014, Michael Flack

will host a final opportunity to view the Smugglers Cove

layout at his place at Carlingford. Due to limited parking,

this will be a “driB in/driB out” mee ng from 9 am to 6

pm. This will be your only chance to see the new third

module of Smuggler’s Cove before the layout gets

packed and shipped to the USA. Some pictures of this

new module are contained elsewhere in this edi on of

The Extra.

OtherEvents:♦ The Sydney Good Line Rail tour is on the weekend

of 15-16 February 2014. For details see:

www.eppingmodelrailway.org.au

♦ Forestville Model Railway Exhibi on is on 1-2

March 2014, Cnr Warringah Rd and Starkey St,

Forestville.

♦ O Scale Expo at Casula Powerhouse, 9:00am to

4:00pm on 1 March 2014 followed by Thirlmere

Fes val of Steam on Sunday, 2 March 2014.

DivisionSevenRoles

The November Mee ng will be at Robert Lewis's place

at 33 Chisholm Crescent, Bradbury (near Camp-

belltown) on 9 November 2013 commencing at 12

noon.

Volume 2, Issue 11 The Extra November 2013

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

2

The October mee ng venue was changed at rela vely

short no ce from the Brewongle layout near Bathurst to

a mee ng at the Novocastrian Model Railway club in

Newcastle.

The weather for the mee ng on the 19th

October was

perfect for the trip up the M1 motorway to Broadmead-

ow Showgrounds. Jason was our gracious host at the No-

vocastrian Model Railway Club and he and his team

demonstrated the great layout they are developing in

rooms under the grandstands. 38 NMRA members turned

up and had a great me.

The formal part of the mee ng was brief with Gerry re-

minding people to get their Christmas Party ckets as

soon as possible as Gerry has to give final numbers to the

venue very soon.

Gerry advised the next mee ng is at Peter Lewis’s place

at Bradbury which will be more accessible for those living

in the southern parts of Division 7. Gerry also stressed

that the January mee ng is a “rolling mee ng” running

from 9 am to 6 pm at Michael Flack’s place. This is be-

October—Novocastrian

Model Railway Club

DivisionSevenMeeting

Reports

cause parking is very limited in the area. This will be the

last opportunity to see Geoff NoK and Michael’s work on

Smugglers Cove as this layout will be packed up and

shipped to the USA for the US Na onal Model Railroad

Museum.

Our Librarian, Paul Morrant, advised he will be stepping

down as Librarian aBer four years in the job. He is seeking

a volunteer to take up the role in February next year.

During the aBernoon, Gerry demonstrated the new TCS

WOW sound decoder that he had connected to a decoder

test box. The fidelity of the sound (and the volume!!) im-

pressed everyone.

In addi on to the model trains, the showgrounds facili es

were home to a very skilled wood turning group and a local

pipe band. Members were welcomed by the wood turners

who had an impressive display of wood turned items and a

large collec on of historic hand tools. Members also en-

joyed the music from the pipe band although the band was

reluctant to provide requests.

- David O’Hearn

Main Sta�on on Novocastrian Club Layout

Engine Facili�es on Novocastrian Club Layout

Volume 2, Issue 11 The Extra November 2013

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

3

More Photos —

Novocastrian Model

Railway Club

Gerry demonstra�ng his TCS WOW Sound Decoder

John Sterland mastering the DCC container crane

Various visitors cha5ng and admiring the Novocastri-

an Club layout

MarketDayA model railway market day will be held on Saturday

30 November 2013 at the Dence Park Crea ve Cen-

tre, 26 Stanley Street Epping from 10:00am to

1:00pm.

You can sell your pre-loved models by ren ng a table

or you can just come along to do your Christmas

shopping and grab a bargain. There will also be a

sausage sizzle for those that work up an appe te.

The market day is being run by Epping Model Railway

Club. For more details, contact Ian on 0449 176 396.

Volume 2, Issue 11 The Extra November 2013

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4

The Smugglers Cove layout was always designed to

contain three modules. The beach and harbour

modules were the first built and they have been

displayed at a number of model train shows as well

as the NMRA Australasian Region Conven on on the

Central Coast in 2012 and the Narrow Gauge Con-

ven on in Melbourne in 2013. The town module

was conceptually designed and started by Geoff

NoK and Michael Flack but was not finished before

Geoff NoK’s passing.

Michael Flack has now completed this module and

the following photos taken by John Saxon are first

shots of this new module.

It was Geoff NoK and Michael Flack’s wish that the

complete Smugglers Cove layout be giBed to the

new NMRA Model Railroad Museum in Sacramento

so the layout will be shipped to the USA in 2014.

This means the January mee ng will be one of the

only opportuni es to see this fantas c layout with-

out travelling overseas to see it.

- David O’Hearn

SmugglersCove—The

UnseenModule

Volume 2, Issue 11 The Extra November 2013

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5

SmugglersCove—More

Photos

Do you ever wonder where you found that useful

ar cle in a magazine or on a web site that you have

now misplaced. Here's a very useful site I stumbled

across. Of note is the searchable online Index to

periodicals and the web:

hKp://the-railroad-index.com/rd_item_control.php

This web site include all of the NMRA Magazine

ar cles and ar cles from various US NMRA regions

as well as commercially produced magazines like

Model Railroader.

HandySearchTool

Volume 2, Issue 11 The Extra November 2013

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

6

Eyesight,Ageingand

theModelerThe ability of our eyes to do comfortable near work

changes with age which presents problems to us mod-

ellers. At the NMRA Conven on in Sacramento in

2011, I gained the following hints and methods of com-

pensa ng for these changes to our eyes so that we can

con nue modelling as we get older.

1) Use brighter lights. Nearly 1/2 less light gets into

the eye as you get older, so more light is necessary to

see the same as when you were younger. More im-

portant, more light also causes the iris (pupil) to con-

strict, which increases the depth of field. This means

that a wider range of near distances will be in focus

than in dimmer light. This is why you can focus closer

under bright lights than under dim condi ons: the ac-

tual distance you can focus to is the same, but the

depth of field is expanded to allow closer 'nearly-

focused' condi ons. Use a minimum of two 60 waK

bulbs at 18 inches for near work or an daylight lamp.

2) Light up the background, too. Using a bright light,

such as a reading lamp, in a dark room causes your

eyes to rock back and forth between bright condi ons

and dark condi ons whenever you look up and then

back to the work. This means the muscles of the iris

have to dilate and contract repeatedly, leading to eye

fa gue. Even ligh ng throughout the room allows the

iris to remain more nearly fixed reducing fa gue.

3) Use corrected spectrum (colour) lights. The human

eye sees and can focus best in full normal daylight.

Neither incandescent lights (too much orange) nor flu-

orescents fit the eye’s peak sensi vity. Use ligh ng

with “Daylight” or “Full Spectrum” bulbs, for example

DaylightQ Lamps, OK-LiteQ , or VeriluxQ .

4) Use eye drops. The human eye produces fewer

tears with age. At the same me, concentra on on

close work causes the eye to blink much less oBen.

This combina on results in dry irritated eyes with pro-

long near work. The use of replacement tears, in the

form of lubricant eye drops, restores comfort and al-

lows further work. Use preserva ve free type solu ons

just before any near task and then every 20 minutes.

5) Use mul�ple sets of reading glasses to accommo-

date different working distances. ABer age 40, the eye

slowly loses its ability to accommodate or focus, lim-

i ng your near working range. Using over-the-counter

reading glasses allows you to set the range closer for

your modelling distance.

The maximum and minimum working distance of a set

of reading glasses are given by the table below. To de-

termine the power for your modelling glasses 1st find

the working distance in either the Max column if you

are 45+ or the Min column if younger then over to the

power. Add this power to the 1st number of your dis-

tance prescrip on.

For example; a farsighted 60 year old with a distance

prescrip on of +1 wan ng to work at 13 inches looks

over to a power of +3. Adding the two values; +1 dis-

tance added to a +3 gives a modelling prescrip on of

+4.

6) Use safety glasses when working with power tools!

None of the above will help you much if you have been

blinded or scarred by shards from a shaKered cuUng

wheel or other power tool accident. Safety glasses or

“Polycarbonate lenses” should always be used when

using a Dremel or other high-speed tool to protect

your sight.

7) Healthy living healthy eyes. Don’t smoke, use UV

protec on in all eyewear and take vitamins formulated

for the eye (OcuviteQ ) .

- by David O’Hearn